Fitness Fear #4

Fitness Fear #4: The fear of getting injured

One of the main ideas that I hear getting spread about CrossFit is that "CrossFit is dangerous, and if you do it, you will get injured." I'm sorry, but this is absolute horseshit. CrossFit is no more or less dangerous than any other athletic endeavor. If you run with awful technique, you're going to get injured. If you powerlift with awful technique, you're going to get hurt. If you do bicep curls and lateral lifts with awful technique, you're going to get hurt. See a pattern emerging? CrossFit is no different than any other activity. If you CrossFit with awful technique, you're going to get hurt.

Some people say that high rep weightlifting, and particularly high rep Olympic lifting, is extremely dangerous because technique breaks down after about 5 repetitions. This idea is also horseshit. You can do 75 power snatches with quality technique and high intensity. You can do 100 deadlifts with close-to-perfect form. Who's to say you can't?

Real life doesn't say "Whoa now! You can't move any more than five sandbags to stop your neighborhood from flooding." You move those damn sandbags until there's no more left to move. In general, life rewards general preparation and punishes specialization. The guy who can lift 1000 pounds once is great when you need someone to lift a car off of your Mom, but he's gonna be one of the last people you want trying to run 15 miles to the nearest town after your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Same thing goes in reverse for a marathon runner. They'd have no problem making it that 15 miles in under two hours, but they'd but functionally useless helping you lift that car off of your loved one. Since nobody knows what life is going to throw their way, you can and should train as many different ways as possible. You want to be strong and fast so you can make it the 15 miles and help lift the car up.

So is CrossFit dangerous? I'd go so far as to say that it's more dangerous not to. Life is full of the unknown and the unknowable, and I'd like to have a fighting chance at getting through those unknown obstacles.

Here's a perfect example of being prepared for the unknown and using proper technique...

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Nickelback - Something In Your Mouth

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WOD 100816 Monday

Warm-up

S/S: Power Clean, 1RM

WOD: Five rounds for time of:

-400m Run

-500m Row

Finish: B2B Tabata Squats.